Mashup genre weaves crazy creatures into classics

Elizabeth Bennet modestly fixes a stray hair before slaughtering a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies. Such is the life of Jane Austen's hybridized characters released in Seth Grahame-Smith's novel, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

The "mashup" genre takes classic novels and morphs their characters with mythical creatures such as vampires or robots. Quirk Classics has released several of these "mashups," with titles such as "Android Karenina," "Dawn of the Dreadfuls," "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" and "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Titles from other publishers include "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim," "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "The Undead World of Oz" and "Little Women and Werewolves."

"The classics are always recycled, and we can't keep reading the exact same story," says Green Valley High School English teacher Jan Macomber. "All great literature is borrowed by modern literature; this was just another way to look at a good story."

The covers of each novel also attract readers, such as the picture of a rotting 18th-century genteel woman on "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Green Valley sophomore Taylor Luffy says this is what caught her immediate attention at Borders bookstore.

"These books completely blew me away because someone had taken another person's idea and put his own spin on it," Luffy says. "Sometimes this skill can be harder than coming up with a new idea."

Released on April 1, 2009, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" has sold more than 1 million copies and has been translated into more than 24 languages, according to Quirk President David Borgenict.

Luffy believes these novels pique teens' interests in eventually reading the actual classics themselves.

" 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' was a great read," Luffy says. "Books like this broaden your mind for a whole spectrum of books."

Reading the original works of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte often can be a daunting task for the average teenage reader, according to Green Valley sophomore Jenae Christensen.

"I liked the original book, but it was kind of hard to follow," Christensen says. "I had to read it twice to get what it was actually saying."

The release of these mashup novels also makes understanding the classics a more realistic goal for teens, Christensen acknowledges.

"It seemed easier than the original 'Pride and Prejudice,' with more modern language than the older English," Christensen says. "The zombie one had more excitement in it, too. After the first couple of pages in the original book, students would probably put it down."

Another facet to the appeal of these novels, according to Macomber, is the shocking illustrations that appear throughout the books.

" 'Pride and Prejudice' is a great book but not an easy read," Macomber says. "The zombie one has lots of pictures, which everyone loves."